The Texas Longhorn: Relic of the Past, Asset for the Future

This brief and entertaining history of the Texas Longhorn details the development of the first distinct American breed of beef cattle. The Spanish herds that had roamed Texas for generations, when mixed with English Longhorns brought by Anglo settlers in the early 1800s, yielded a rangy hybrid that could thrive in Texas’ climate and was ideally suited to ranchers’ aspirations.

Almost extinct by the turn of the century, the Texas Longhorn was preserved by the efforts of just a few people who...